21 Sep, 2005
Around the corner from the seafood section of the Nasugbu market is our favorite rendezvous. Or “run-des-voos†as my Assistant/Chief of Stuff (COS) likes to pronounce it. No, it’s nothing tryst-y, just the neighborhood Rendezvous Bakeshop with all the provincial or small town favorites on offer. Outlandish sweetish breads with red…
20 Sep, 2005
The Nasugbu market is usually a hit or miss proposition. Get there too early and the fish haven’t arrived. Get there too late and there is nothing left. Go after a night of big waves and there are no fish on offer. After a strong moon, warm current, heavy rains,…
19 Sep, 2005
My daughter had a long term break over the weekend and we headed out to the beach for some rest and relaxation. Some rain is fine – it cools, it calms and it nourishes the plants that produce the oxygen we breathe. But too much rain is a real damper – it…
18 Sep, 2005
If you have never tasted the Vargas Butter Cake, where have you been for the last 20 years!?! Seriously, this is my favorite butter cake of all time. A Makati icon, it deserves to be in the Hall of Fame of home-cooked specialties. It is light, airy, consistent, flavorful, moist but…
17 Sep, 2005
There are bayabas or guavas in abundance at the local markets right now. Guavas (Psidium guajava L.) are part of the huge Myrtaceae family that includes eucalyptus and even makopa. Though no one is certain, guavas are believed to have originated in Mexico or slightly further South in Central America according to…
16 Sep, 2005
Tocino is Spanish for bacon or cured meat. In the Philippines, it is a red sweet pork breakfast dish that you must dip in vinegar… Just as most bacons are reddish in color, I think in the old days this was a result of adding saltpeter or potassium nitrate or is it sodium…
15 Sep, 2005
Continuing on my theme of easy and economical dishes (see previous post), I recently made some tapang baka (cured beef) at home. I did the modern version which is really more of a marinated beef than a cured beef but it still had the same taste and none of the hibbie jibbies that…
14 Sep, 2005
Times are tough. Buying power is shrinking and most people would be offended if you described the pain you are encountering sticking to your South Forbes Diet while they worry about where their next carbohydrates are coming from. Some readers over the past few months have suggested that everything featured on this…